• Australian Dental Association [ADA] committee chair Dr Peter Alldritt said that player should stick to water to avoid erosion and tooth decay. And the high levels of sugar and acids in many sports drink can have a harmful impact on a person’s oral health.

• As the 50th anniversary of Cheryl Maracic who was then 14-year old to receive the first kidney transplant in New South Wales, one of the longest surviving kidney recipients she said that the life-saving procedure helped her live a full life.

• In 2015, DonateLife Week they will promote the national awareness week for organ and tissue donation in Australia, from Sunday 2 August to Sunday 9 August. The campaign is part of the Organ and Tissue Authority’s broader community education efforts supporting the National Reform Programme.

Health News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 4th August 2015. Read by Rebecca Foster.

Dentists are warning high levels of sugar and acids in many sports drinks can have a harmful impact on a person’s oral health.

Australian Dental Association [ADA] committee chair Dr Peter Alldritt said players should stick to water to avoid erosion and tooth decay.
“People sometimes drink sports drinks thinking they are healthier than a soft drink,” he said.
“They can contain six to eight teaspoons of sugar in one drink, which is not far behind some soft drinks.”
An ADA survey of 1,200 Australians revealed over 50 per cent of adults and around 30 per cent of children consume sports drinks every week, unaware of the health risks.
Dr Alldritt said it was particularly alarming to find those who were aware of the dangers still continued to consume the drinks.
He said Australia is recording higher levels of dental diseases than ever before.
In Australia, 50 per cent of children and three out of 10 adults have untreated tooth decay.

Exercise physiologist Robert Skeat said while sports drinks can help restore electrolyte imbalance, water is the healthiest way to hydrate.
“The high levels of sodium in these drinks leaves you thirsty and the sugar makes them easier to drink,” he said.
“They’re often sold in gyms and health clubs so we assume they can’t be that bad for us.”
Dental Health Week begins [this week]… with a focus on the oral health habits of active Australians.

As the 50th anniversary of the first kidney transplant in New South Wales approaches, one of the longest surviving kidney recipients has said the life-saving procedure helped her live a full life.

Cheryl Maracic, then 14-year old Cheryl Frahm, received the first live kidney transplant in NSW in 1967, just two years after the first ever kidney transplant in NSW had taken place.
The kidney was donated by her father.
Ms Maracic said at the age of 14 it was difficult to know how serious the operation was.
“I was worried for dad in as much as a child in the 60s could be, but you still don’t really understand what’s happening until many years later,” she said.

Ms Maracic is now 62 and will be attending the golden jubilee together with her father, who is now 84.

Ms Maracic said her kidney transplant had helped her to live a full life, and that she has packed a lot into the last 48 years.

New South Wales’ first kidney transplant happened at Sydney’s Prince Henry Hospital in 1965 which, along with Prince of Wales and the Sydney Children’s Hospital, will be marking the anniversary [this] week with a golden jubilee.
The event will bring together recipients and donors, and there will be another day for specialists from Australia and around the world to present papers on organ donation developments.
Professor Bob Farnsworth, now director of surgery at Prince of Wales Hospital, operated on Ms Maracic’s father to remove the kidney, and was also a young surgeon in the theatre at the first NSW kidney transplant.
He said doctors were unsure if the deceased donor kidney would even be a match.

Professor Farnsworth said at the time doctors were hopeful a combination of drugs would help the patient survive.

[This]… anniversary will coincide with Donate Life Week — the national awareness week to promote organ and tissue donation in Australia.

DonateLife Week is the national awareness week to promote organ and tissue donation in Australia. In 2015, DonateLife Week … [is] held from Sunday 2 August to Sunday 9 August [this week].

Download the DonateLife Week Action Pack to find out how you can help raise awareness of organ and tissue donation. The Pack contains information and resources to support your involvement in DonateLife Week 2015.

DonateLife Week provides a timely reminder to all Australians of the need to discuss their donation decision with loved ones, and to ask and know their donation decisions. It’s a week dedicated to having the chat that saves lives.

Family discussion and knowledge of donation decisions is vital. The majority of families say that having discussed and knowing the donation decision of their loved one made it much easier to support donation proceeding. Rarely, does a family decline donation if they knew the deceased’s wishes.
The DonateLife Week campaign is part of the Organ and Tissue Authority’s broader community education efforts supporting the National Reform Programme to increase organ and tissue donation rates in Australia.